2 boys, 14, accused of sexually assaulting girl, 10

Rosemary Regina Sobol and Steve SchmadekeTribune reporters

Two 14-year-old boys charged in the alleged rape of a 10-year-old girl at knife point on Chicago’s South Side hung their heads and glanced at their mothers during their first court appearance Thursday.

Cook County prosecutors and Chicago police said the girl was walking by the home of one of the teens near an elementary school in the Gresham neighborhood on the afternoon of April 28 when the teens invited her inside.

Once the girl was in his home on South Kerfoot Avenue, one of the boys grabbed a steak knife from the kitchen and told the girl, “If you say anything, I’m going to kill you,” Assistant State’s Attorney Victor Yanz said during a hearing in juvenile court.

He then took the girl into a bedroom, took off her clothing and sexually assaulted her, Yanz said.

The other boy laughed as he watched the attack before he, too, sexually assaulted the girl, according to the prosecutor and police. He later told police that he saw the first teen have sex with the 10-year-old and that the girl voluntarily had sex with him, Yanz said.

The first boy is charged in a juvenile petition with 28 felony counts and the second with 13 felony counts, including aggravated criminal sexual assault, aggravated criminal sexual abuse and aggravated unlawful restraint.

“This is a very serious case, and the minors would pose a great risk to the general public if not in custody,” Yanz told Judge Colleen Sheehan, who ordered the two teens held at the juvenile detention center.

Both of the boys’ mothers appeared in court, telling the judge that their sons’ fathers lived out of state.

The mother of the first boy, who had never previously been arrested, according to his court-appointed lawyer, asked the judge to release him on electronic monitoring so he could go to summer school and graduate from eighth grade.

“He deserves a chance to go to school, go to summer school,” the mother told Sheehan. “I’m a good mother, and I believe he’s a good son.”

Attorneys from the public defender’s office questioned the accuracy of the charges and said they would seek to view the girl’s mental health records.